Latin today · Media & publishing · Science & academia
Recto and verso
“on the right (side) and on the turned (side)”
Latin word in modern English
Meaning
What does “Recto and verso” mean?
In a book opened flat, the right-hand page is the recto and the left-hand page is the verso. For a single sheet, recto is the front and verso the back.
In real life
Where you meet it
In book design, printing, libraries, manuscript studies and archives.
Example
“Recto and verso” in a sentence
Chapters in this book always begin on a recto page.
Origin
Where the word comes from
Short for recto folio ("on the right leaf") and verso folio ("on the turned leaf"). Verso comes from vertere, "to turn".
Pronunciation
How to say it
Usual EnglishREK-toh and VUR-soh
Classical LatinREK-to and WER-so
Good to know
Common mistakes
- Recto pages carry odd page numbers, verso pages even ones.
- In manuscripts, folio numbers are written like "f. 12r" (recto) and "f. 12v" (verso).
- Latin
- Recto and verso
- Literally
- on the right (side) and on the turned (side)
- Used in
- Media & publishing, Science & academia
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